Bill Gates is speaking out about his personal experience with Alzheimer’s — and his hope for progress in fighting the disease.

In an essay published this week on his blog at GatesNotes.com, the Microsoft co-founder and tech billionaire, 69, reflected on the difficulty of spending another Father’s Day without his dad, Bill Gates Sr.

The elder Gates passed away in 2020 at the age of 94 after battling Alzheimer’s.

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“It was a brutal experience, watching my brilliant, loving father go downhill and disappear,” Gates wrote in the blog post.

Today, motivated by his own experience with the common dementia, Gates — who serves as chair of the Gates Foundation — is committed to working toward a cure for the common dementia, which currently affects more than seven million Americans, or one in nine people over 65.

In his blog, Gates expressed optimism about the “massive progress” being made in the fight against Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

Last year, Gates said he visited Indiana University’s School of Medicine in Indianapolis to tour the labs where teams have been researching Alzheimer’s biomarkers.

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“I also got the opportunity to look under the hood of new automated machines that will soon be running diagnostics around the world,” he wrote. “It’s an exciting time in a challenging space.”

One of the biggest breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s research, according to Gates, is blood-based diagnostic tests, which detect the ratio of amyloid plaques in the brain. (Amyloid plaques, clumps of protein that accumulate in the brain, are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s.)

Bill Gates Jr. (right) poses with his father at his graduation ceremony in 1973. (Gates family)

“I’m optimistic that these tests will be a game-changer,” Gates wrote. 

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first blood-based test for patients 55 years and older, as Fox News Digital reported at the time.

“A simple, accurate and easy-to-run blood test might one day make routine screening possible.”

Traditionally, Gates noted, the primary path to Alzheimer’s diagnosis was either a PET scan (medical imaging) or spinal tap (lumbar puncture), which were usually only performed when symptoms emerged.

The hope is that blood-based tests could do a better job of catching the disease early, decline begins.

The Gates family poses for a photo in 1965. The elder Gates passed away in 2020 at the age of 94 after battling Alzheimer’s. (Gates family)

“We now know that the disease begins 15 to 20 years before you start to see any signs,” Gates wrote. 

“A simple, accurate and easy-to-run blood test might one day make routine screening possible, identifying patients long before they experience cognitive decline,” he stated.

Gates said he is often asked, “What is the point of getting diagnosed if I can’t do anything about it?”

To that end, he expressed his optimism for the future of Alzheimer’s treatments, noting that two drugs — Lecanemab (Leqembi) and Donanemab (Kisunla) — have gained FDA approval.

“Both have proven to modestly slow down the progression of the disease, but what I’m really excited about is their potential when paired with an early diagnostic,” Gates noted.

Alzheimer’s disease currently affects more than seven million Americans, or one in nine people over 65. (iStock)

He said he is also hopeful that the blood tests will help speed up the process of enrolling patients in clinical trials for new Alzheimer’s drugs.

To accomplish this, Gates is calling for increased funding for research, which often comes from federal grants.

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“This is the moment to spend more money on research, not less,” he wrote, also stating that “the quest to stop Alzheimer’s has never had more momentum.”

“There is still a huge amount of work to be done — like deepening our understanding of the disease’s pathology and developing even better diagnostics,” Gates went on. 

“I am blown away by how much we have learned about Alzheimer’s over the last couple of years.”

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Gates pointed out that when his father had Alzheimer’s, it was considered a “death sentence,” but that is starting to change.

“I am blown away by how much we have learned about Alzheimer’s over the last couple of years,” he wrote.

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“I cannot help but be filled with a sense of hope when I think of all the progress being made on Alzheimer’s, even with so many challenges happening around the world. We are closer than ever before to a world where no one has to watch someone they love suffer from this awful disease.”

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new, twice-yearly shot — the first and only of its kind — to prevent HIV, the creator of the drug, Gilead Sciences, announced on Wednesday.

Sold under the name Yeztugo, the company’s injectable HIV-1 capsid inhibitor (lenacapavir) reduces the risk of sexually acquired HIV in adults and adolescents.

“This is a historic day in the decades-long fight against HIV,” said Daniel O’Day, chairman and CEO of California-based Gilead Sciences, in a press release.

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The medicine, which only needs to be administered twice a year, has shown “remarkable outcomes in clinical studies,” as Gilead claims it could transform HIV prevention.

The drug is given as an injectable under the skin that the body then slowly absorbs. Individuals must have a negative HIV-1 test prior to starting the treatment.

In large trials last year, the drug was not only nearly 100% effective in its prevention of HIV, but proved superior to once-daily oral medication like Truvada, another drug by Gilead.

The drug is given as an injectable under the skin that the body then slowly absorbs. Individuals must have a negative HIV-1 test prior to starting the treatment. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)

The journal Science named lenacapavir its 2024 “Breakthrough of the Year.”

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Lenacapavir uses a multi-stage approach that distinguishes it from other approved antiviral medications. 

Sold under the name Yeztugo, the company’s injectable HIV-1 capsid inhibitor (lenacapavir) reduces the risk of sexually acquired HIV in adults and adolescents. (iStock)

“While most antivirals act on just one stage of viral replication, lenacapavir is designed to inhibit HIV at multiple stages of its lifecycle,” states the press release from Gilead.

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“Yeztugo is one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of our time and offers a very real opportunity to help end the HIV epidemic,” O’Day said in the press release.

The most commonly reported adverse reactions during clinical trials included injection site reactions, headache and nausea, according to the company.